Abstract
Summary
Thymic cells from newborn rats and mice and from 2 human fetuses were killed by incubation with prednisolone (10 μg/ml) for 1 day. In contrast, thymic cells of newborn rabbits were resistant to the hormone. Thymic cells from young rabbits acquired increasing sensitivity with age and the cells from 12-week-old or older rabbits were nearly all killed by prednisolone. Lymphocytes from the spleen and appendix of rabbits were moderately sensitive to the cytocidal action of prednisolone. Many thymic cells from the human fetus were transformed by PHA into atypical lymphoblastoid cells but very few thymic cells from neonatal and adult rabbits were transformed.
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